How cool was that win!
And how cool is it being the only test team having Wagner thundering in taking scalps.
NZ’s test cricketers made it hard for themselves, but Wagner rode to the rescue yesterday with an aggressive 10-over spell with an old ball that broke the 126-run third-wicket stand of Kohli and Dhawan, and then came back to take the crucial wicket of anchor-batsman MS Donhi with the newish ball.
Here’s Richard:
5 comments:
NZ didn't make it particularly hard for themselves, all that "NZ Lost Their Lead" and "India Back In Game" nonsense in the papers was ignorant. NZ did score less than there'd have liked in their second test but not by much.
It is very rare for chasing teams to score up near 400 in second innings and while India managed to make the end close enough to be tensely interesting they were always going uphill. NZ is currently not just a batting or fielding team but a good team with both worthy batting and fielding abilities, after scoring 500 promptly they were always in the lead and never, contrary to the observation of nervous nellies, lost the initiative.
How odd. If I try and Publish using Name/URL and the name is Fentex my comment disappears into the nether world, many many times, but doing exactly the same and choosing a random name, such as 'Test' my comment was published fine.
And now 'Fentex' is accepted again. Odd.
High drama. Not sure what game Fentex was watching but India was never out of it until Dhoni went. It was Wagner's day - he sparked the fight back and lifted the team with his energy, skill & 'tude. Was a good day to be at the park - sport don't get any better.
I didn't say India were out of it - NZ coming up short in their second innings gave India a chance, but India never had the initiative or advantage as some commentary seemed to think. I suspect falling short in the first innings may have helped NZ as McCullum has a tendency not to declare aggressively. If NZ had batted well a temptation to stay in too long may have convinced India to dig in and try and tease a draw out.
Giving them a challenging but possible target encouraged a result and that's something NZ has failed to do the past with games that ended in draws.
Well done McCullum on reaching 300 today. Magnificent.
It is interesting to consider the following, however. The wicket keeper (Dhoni) dropped an easy catch while McCullum was on 293. Wicket keepers don't drop easy catches and no, it did not fall short of Dhoni. Once McCullum had reached his 300 McCullum immediately repaid the favour by nicking the ball again through to Dhoni.
I'm not sure. Either way, good result.
Julian
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